Back to work

We made it home safely-arriving in Niagara Falls around noon. Half an hour early. The airport in Myrtle Beach was jammed. Many flights were delayed with the snow in the US so they needed our flight out early to accommodate flights that were late arriving from other destinations. Perfect. We made  a quick stop at the Outlet Mall. Two pairs of shoes for Beth and one for me. Then an easy drive home and a stop in the store to see Cathy. A short nap (I was up at 6:30 to wash the sheets and clean the house) and now I'm ready to knit. My Linen Stitch scarf is almost done. My goal is to be finished this week. Then back to Eos. April 28 (The Knitter's Frolic) is quickly approaching.

Tomorrow is going to be busy in the store. Mr. UPS will be bringing 5 boxes-2 from Rowan, 2 from Lorna's Laces and 1 from Dream in Color.

Lots of Lorna's Laces Haymarket happiness.

The colours coming are
-the 'l'
-the outer drive
-navy pier
-lakeview
-giddings
-hermosa
-midway
-daley
-byrne
-harrison
-odgen
-mason
-madill
-washington

Mr. Canada Post should be delivering a box from Lynda with Love and Happiness. I can't wait to see it. Lynda said it looks great.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Beth and I thought we would golf after church. No such luck. Here is the view when we left Cracker Barrel.Thank goodness I had my new kick around shoes and I wasn't in my good leather shoes. There were puddles lakes everywhere.

We ran a few errands and are on the couch knitting and watching TV.

Here is my Linen Stitch scarf so far. I had an extra circular needle with me so I divided up the stitches to get a picture.

The actual colours of the scarf are closer to the picture below.

Last night Beth and I headed out to Murrell's Inlet for dinner at River City Cafe. It doesn't look like much-from the outside or inside but the burgers are awesome.

And Beth is pointing to something very important on the sign. Not to me but she had one.

We have been eating here for over 25 years.

We're heading out to run a few errands and drop stuff at my parent's for them to bring home on their next trip. Dinner and then The Amazing Race and Celebrity Apprentice which are taping.

Golf is cheaper than shopping

Beth and I were up early and at Cracker Barrel before 8:30 for breakfast. There wasn't any rain yet but by the time breakfast was finished it had moved in. It hasn't stopped all day. What to do?? Shopping of course.

The first stop was the flooring store to look at tile for the sun room. I mentioned last week that I wanted hardwood and Sara commented that you can buy porcelain tile that looks like hardwood. We found it. 

 It is awesome.

It would have been much cheaper to go golfing. We stopped at the local quilt shop and I got a few more Kaffe Fassett fabrics. One is perfect for the quilt that I am doing and three more for stash. I didn't have any casual, kick around kind of running shows so a trip to Payless and I have two pairs of Cons. Very cute colours. 

We were walking through the mall and came upon this.

The kids are harnessed in and bounce up and down. Many had done it before and were doing somersaults. Beth was very jealous and commented "It sucks to be old. I would love to be a kid and do that!!" What a great thing at the mall. Dad can keep the kids busy and mom can shop in peace.

Did I say that golfing is cheaper than shopping? There is a pile of stuff at my front door to go to mom and dad's house because it won't fit in the suitcase.

I'm going to sit and knit for a bit and then we are heading out to Murrell's Inlet for dinner. The original River City Cafe. Amazing burgers and fries. Beth is still holding out that the rain will stop and we can play 9 holes of golf but I think she is dreaming.

Here is the knitting that I did on the plane. It wasn't easy. They crammed as many rows into the plane as possible and you were almost touching the seat in front of you. There was no way to read a newspaper. 

I'm happy that I decided on the Summerspun. The colours are great.

We just talked to my dad and he said it is a beautiful day at home. Can you send it this way overnight? Please!

We're Here

It was about 10 last night when I decided what I was going to knit with the Summerspun.

Lady Irmelin-a pattern I bought on Ravelry.

There wasn't time to cast on so I put 24 stitches on my needles and did 4 rows of stocking stitch. Beth asked if I was swatching. No. If you go through airport security with nothing on your needles they are more likely to take them.

Beth and I flew out of Niagara Falls, NY at 1:15 today. You never know how the border is going to be so we left at 10. The border wasn't bad but there wasn't enough time to go to the outlet mall. Unfortunately there wasn't wifi in the airport or I could have blogged-I had lots of time. Instead I cast on for the left front. I got a bit done on the flight but am part way through the row so I will get a picture tomorrow.

Nancy (one of our friends who also does our lawn) picked us up at the airport. She visited for about an hour and as she was leaving Tina (another friend who looks after cleaning our house) stopped by. We finally got in the truck to head out for dinner when we saw Carl (one of my parent's neighbours) coming out of his house so we stopped to say hi. It was almost 3 hours from getting to our house until we got to the restaurant. Then stops at Martins (a huge golf store-of course I have a new pair of golf shoes that are so cute), World Market (a store where we got our dining room table) so that we could get another chair for the dining room, Pier 1, gas and then Chick-fil-A for milkshakes on the way home. We made a quick stop at my parent's house to make sure all was good there and then home. It's time to put our feet up and rest. It's been a long day. We taped Fashion Star before heading out so we're going to watch and get some knitting done. There is a long list of chores for tomorrow but those will be scrapped if it is nice weather. :)

One More Sleep

I'm in the store getting ready to go away. I like to have things in order before I go so that Cathy can find things. There are the last few price signs to make (Kim moved all the sock yarn around yesterday) and then I'm set.

Now I need to figure out my knitting. We are flying Spirit and you have to pay for carry on luggage. I will only have my purse (which will be a big one) so I can't fit my linen stitch scarf in it for knitting at the airport and on the plane. What to do?? You got it-start something new. I have had my eye on some Noro Ayatori so I'm going to start a summer top. The linen stitch scarf will be in my suitcase.

The pattern is from Sirdar. You don't need anything fancy with Noro yarns.

Some of you are asking why I don't take Eos (the white cotton sweater). The back is done so I would be starting on the front. Many years ago I had a small problem taking the front of a sweater on a trip while the back was at home. They ended up different lengths. Now I must have all pieces with me when I am knitting a sweater. It will take up too much room for a weekend trip so it can't come.

Here is the weather forecast for the weekend. It's not looking good. But at least it isn't -7C like it was this morning when I came to work.

My sewing machine is fixed. Mom to the rescue. Who knew? I'm not being mean but my mom usually isn't the best person for fixing things. Normally Beth and I are fixing things (iPad, computer, phone......) for her. She came over with her little sewing machine tool kit and in two minutes it was working. I have her extra sewing machine as well so now there is no reason not to sew. Thanks mom!!

It's later in the day and I have cast on one sleeve for my cardigan. The first row of ribbing is done after a false start. I had to rip part of the row out because I can't count to 3. It's done and then I turned my head to the right. There is a colour of Rowan Summerspun on the shelf that might be perfect. Perfect for the cardigan but also a new pair of shoes that I'm knitting something to go with.

Colour 125
Nottinghill

Summerspun is a beautiful yarn in a 50% Merino Wool and 50% Cotton blend. The yarn is made by twisting a printed cotton end and a melange wool end together, resulting in a wonderful subtle striping effect. Summerspun is a joy to knit and crochet.

Beth agreed with me that the Summerspun is a great colour. I'm casting on again. It's a good thing that I've had lots of practice lately.

For the past half an hour I have been sending out emails. Madelinetosh has 31 (no you didn't read that wrong), thirty one boxes of yarn ready for us. It should be leaving Texas early next week and we should have it in the store the following week. I'm happy that we have lots of yarn coming but where are we going to put it????

• merino
• merino light
• vintage
• dk
• chunky
• merino dk
• lace
• prairie
• pashmina worsted

And there is still one invoice for me to see. Who knows what other yarns might be in the boxes.

It's casting on time!!!

First Day of Spring

Can you believe that it is the first day of spring? Someone commented that it was hot on the first day of spring last year. Then I remembered that Beth and I did golf during March break last year. I just looked through my old blog posts and on March 19 Beth and I visited Copetown Woods for 18 holes and if I recall it was hot out. Where is that weather?

Kim came into work this morning wearing her new Inspira Cowl. It looks great.

This picture doesn't do it any justice but none of my girls would go outside for a picture. They said it was too cold. Kim used 2.5 balls of Noro Aya.

I just talked with the ladies at Dream in Color and the yarn is being shipped today which means maybe Friday, maybe Monday.

Here is a free pattern for the Smooshy with Cashmere-14 colours are in the shipment.

Download on Ravelry...

Last night Beth and I visited a quilt shop in Brantford. Red Red Bobbin Quilt Shop. Louise and Jim were amazing. The shop is in their house (I think you might say it has taken over their house) and there are many rooms of fabric. Kaffe Fassett. Tula Pink. More Kaffe Fassett. Brandon Mably. Philip Jacobs. And many, many more designer fabrics.

Their website is redredbobbin.com.

They have two Longarm machines-this is the small one. If you aren't a quilter then you might not know what Longarm quilting is. From Wikipedia

Longarm quilting is the process by which a longarm sewing machine is used to sew together a quilt top, quilt batting and quilt backing into a finished quilt. The longarm sewing machine typically ranges from 10 to 14 feet in length (or, 3metres to 4.25 metres). One typically consists of an industrial sewing machine, a 10 to 14-foot table, and several rollers on which the fabric layers are placed.

We had to walk through the shop a few times because there is so much to see.

 Lots of finished quilts on display.

If you are a quilter then I would highly recommend visiting the store. Jane has been talking about it for awhile. You won't be disappointed.

 We bought the fabric for the pillows for the sun room. Now the colour of the wall has to change.

From Tula Pink's Nightshade Collection.

Nightshade captures the spirit of Halloween with a sinister kind of elegance. In classic Tula Pink fashion this is no ordinary Halloween collection. You may stumble upon a little midnight magic, the occasional raven concealed in a tangle of lace, rows of apothecary jars filled with mysterious concoctions or a garden of flowers that may be just as deadly as it is beautiful. Along the meandering path of Nightshade nothing is what it seems and every turn holds a new possibility. 

I knew that I wanted the two purple shades. Not for the sun room but for me. When Beth saw them she said she liked them. I didn't twist her arm. When I laid out the two greens she was sold. I didn't twist her arm. But I was very happy inside.

Now you can see that the yellow won't go. The bench cushions are going to be a light aqua colour that is in both the purple and green flowered fabrics.

It is going to rain all weekend in Myrtle which will give us time to run errands. Picking out tiles will be one. Now that we have all the other colours decided it should be easy. LOL! I'm going to pick the really expensive tiles and Beth will veto me. Then we can pick the paint colour. We're thinking almost white with a touch of the aqua. Not much. This can change by Saturday afternoon.

Survivor tonight. From the commercials I see that they are switching up the teams. More drama I hope. :)

Quilting

Small problem before I could plug in the sewing machine last night. I needed to figure out where I was on the quilt. It is from a Kaffe Fassett book and I am following a chart - It is made up of many different sized squares. I didn't make any notes so I wasn't sure where I was and it took about 10 minutes to get back on track. (I tell knitters to leave notes in their knitting bags so when they pick up a project that has been sitting for awhile they know where they are in the pattern. HELLO! Follow your own advice.) Then I needed to cut some more squares. I hate that part. If someone would cut them out for me I would be happy just to sew. I got some squares joined and all was going well. Then it wasn't going so good. Something happened with my bobbin and the machine starting jamming. I didn't touch anything so I was stumped. I tried to fix it but just got frustrated. I unplugged the machine and moved onto knitting. I guess someone was trying to tell me to get my scarf finished. Maybe I can figure it out tonight. Here is the quilt so far. This strip will be a few squares longer and then there are two more strips.

My work would be going quicker if I cut the squares in the numbers that Kaffe asked for and then I could follow the chart. Instead I have many more fabrics so I'm putting colours wherever I want. I like the look but it means more planning to make sure that colours are evenly distributed.

I talked with my mom and she has an extra machine. Beth is bringing it home for me so I can finish the strip tonight. I did a bit of measuring and Kaffe only asks for three strips. If it is going to go on my king size bed then I will have to add in another strip. 

Here's a little teaser of some yarn that should be coming soon from Dream in Color. Smooshy with Cashmere. Great for socks but you can also use it for a scarf or shawl.

With its luscious blend of luxury fibers, Smooshy with Cashmere is opulence in a skein. The smooth, plied base, combined with our unique dyeing process, gives Smooshy with Cashmere its deep and lushly-shaded tones. And, 20% cash­mere makes this yarn divinely next-to-skin soft, while 10% nylon lends a durability that means Smooshy with Cashmere is equally at home in socks and open, airy lacework.

70% superwash merino, 20% cashmere, 10% nylon
4 oz. & 400 yds.
7.5 – 9 sts. inch
U.S. 0 to 2 needles

These are just a sampling of the colours. I believe that there are 14 or 15 coming in total.

Look who came to work today. Eos. I'm making progress. It was way too cold and windy to go outside for a picture.

Mr. UPS just brought in some boxes from Rowan including 3 new colours of All Seasons Chunky (wouldn't my sweater look great in the fuchsia??)

And Rowan Studio 28

Inspired by the 1960's 'Mod' look, this collection features strong graphic patterns and bold stripes. The designs predominantly feature our Rowan Kid Classic yarn with the addition of Kidsilk Haze to some designs to emphasize the trend for thick and thin textures.

I'm going to sign off and get back to Eos. Maybe I can get the back done today.

Royal Petite Kits

Kim has gone Inspira Cowl crazy.

This is Noro Aya (discontinued but we have some left) which is cotton, silk and wool. Instead of using two colours she is using the same colour but started the two balls at different spots. A great idea and looks fabulous. The Noro Ayatori will work as well which is a wool/silk blend with lots of amazing colours-here are a few of my favourites.

Mr. Canada Post brought in a huge box from Blue Sky Alpacas which included these cute kits. Two balls of Royal Petites (100% alpaca) and a pattern. There are 5 different patterns to choose from (I forgot to order kits for the Buckingham and Westminster Hat) and lots of colour choices.

Here are some yarn bowl pictures.

I ran down the street to The Quilt Rack to see what was new. I bought a Kaffe Fassett fabric for my quilt. Now I'm excited and think that I might plug in the sewing machine tonight. I broke the needle in my machine in the summer and haven't looked at my quilting since. I think it's time.

While we are on the subject of quilting-when I was cleaning up my closet I found some really old jeans that shouldn't be worn any more. A customer once told me that she collected old jeans and made a jean quilt. What a great idea. If you have any old jeans, I don't care about the condition, that you want to get rid of please drop them off in the store. I will put them to good use.

Top Chef Canada starts tonight. I wouldn't eat most of the food they make but I can't get enough of Top Chef.